Employee Benefit News

2010 Benny Awards aim to provide fertilizer for greenshoots

I love the term "greenshoots" when referring to a recovering economy showing fragile signs of new life and vitality. It seems to conjure up such hope and visions of rebirth and renewal.

A breather from health care can help employers focus on the brain drain

What a difference one special election makes. In the wake of Scott Brown's upset victory in January's special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Ted Kennedy, all the stories about health care reform over the last few weeks involve needles - and not the hypodermic kind.

Correction

Mandatory dietary counseling and coverage for 27-year-old dependents? Really?

As this issue went to press, the Senate had not yet passed a health care reform bill or begun the sure to be arduous process of blending House and Senate legislation to put up for a final vote in both chambers.

Countdown to 2010 could be an ominous one for health care reform

It's the holiday season, and whether you view H.R. 3962 as the perfect holiday gift or as a lump of coal, the fact remains that much of this year has been wrapped up in debating, voting and debating some more, on health care reform.

What your employees and pro football players have in common: lack of retirement readiness

With all their money, houses, cars and jewels, I never imagined that professional athletes needed financial counseling.

Bring a little Sin City to your site

Spend any length of time with me, and one of the things you'll quickly learn is that my second home is Las Vegas. I love it there. My husband and I visit at least once a year - in fact, not long after this issue of EBN hits your inbox, I'll be heading to the airport for our annual sojourn.

When it comes to benefits, be a blabbermouth

I took my first health risk assessment recently - mostly from curiosity to see how my health plan would assess the state of my physical and emotional health, and the gift card incentive my employer offered was icing on the cake (perhaps a poor choice of words when talking about an HRA, but I digress).

Welcome to BF&E 2009: Lemonade, anyone?

I know that in Atlanta, the gracious host city for Benefits Forum & Expo 2009, offering guests lemonade instead of classic Southern sweet tea is borderline illegal. But I know we've all collected a glut of recession lemons this year, and thought offering up a tall glass of lemonade would be the best way to welcome you to BF&E 2009, celebrate not just surviving but thriving another year, and toast to better days ahead.

Practitioners, consultants make final pitches for health care reform

At presstime, although bills had been approved by key committees in both houses, Congress had yet to fully approve health care reform legislation, and time is running out for them to do so. It's well-known that there's not much room for politicking between the end of the August recess and the mad dash to the end of the year. President Obama remains unbowed, however, stating emphatically at every turn that the nation must reform its health care system this year.

Don't grind workers down, groom them up

Like so many employers across every industry, EBN's parent company has seen its share of layoffs this year.

Editor's Inbox: Readers jeer opt-out payments, cheer onsite clinics

Palmieri's stance on opt-out payments is 'paternalistic' Frank Palmieri rarely writes something that doesn't spark interest, and I always look forward to reading his column in Employee Benefit News. I don't always agree with him, and his April 1 column on opt-out credits ('Incenting workers to opt out of health coverage may carry unintended consequences') brought out the old paternalistic line that 'opt-out payments should not be made unless employees can prove the existence of other medical coverage.' I disagree.

$634 billion for health care reform not needed?

Although the odds are stacked against them, federal lawmakers are soldiering forth to draft comprehensive health care reform legislation to provide universal coverage to all Americans. President Obama has said repeatedly he wants and expects to sign a bill into law by year's end.

Ask and you shall receive: Introducing EBN's new columnists

When I issued a call in January for folks interested in writing for EBN and BenefitNews.com as featured columnists, I never anticipated such a strong response.

Bennys to honor professionals who outwit, outsmart, outplay

The last year has felt a bit like the TV show 'Survivor.' Last fall, unsuspecting employers were dumped in the middle of an economic crisis that seemed to come out of nowhere, with no supplies or tools to survive other than their own ingenuity and intestinal fortitude.